| A | B |
|---|
| Most effective agent of erosion in wearing down Earth's surface | Running water (def) |
| 2 ways water wears down land | weathering & erosion |
| Griding action of sand, pebbles, & boulders | Abrasion (def) |
| 3 ways running water transports rock | Solution, Suspension, & Bedload |
| Solution (def) | Way in which a river carries sediments that are dissolved in the river water. |
| 2 Examples of items carried in solution | Calcium & Magnesium |
| Suspension (def) | Way in which a river carries floating sediments, water looks muddy |
| 3 Examples of items carried in suspendion by a river | Sands, Silts & Clays |
| Bedload (def) | Way in which large items are carried bouncing along the river bottom |
| 3 Examples of items carried as bedload in a river | Sands, Pebbles & Boulders to heavy to float |
| What does human use of land do to the amount of suspended material carried by a river? | Human use Increases the % of suspended material |
| Drainage Basin Synonym | Watershed |
| Drainage Basin (def) | The land area from which a stream or river gets its water |
| Ex of the largest Drainage Basin in the USA | Mississippi Drainage Basin from the Rocky Mts to the Appalachian Mts. |
| 3 Stages of Stream Developement | Young Stream, Mature Stream, Old Stream |
| 7 Characteristics of a Young Stream | Flows swiftly, V-shaped valledy, may have rapids,may have waterfalls, Erodes the stream bottom more than the sides, Has a high energy level due to the slope, Steep sides |
| Ex of a Canyon | Grand Canyon |
| River that runs through the Grand Canyon | Colorado River |
| Base Level of the Toms River | Barnegat Bay |
| 3 Characteristics of a Mature Stream | Flows less swiftly than a young stream, erodes along sides of stream & bottom, may form meanders |
| Meander (def) | A curve in a mature stream |
| Fastest part of an meander | Outside curve |
| Deepest part of a meander | Outside curve |
| Slowest part of a meander | Inside curve |
| Shallow part of a meander | Inside curve |
| Floodplain (def) | Broad, flat valley floor, carved by a meandering stream |
| 3 Characteristics of an Old Stream | Flows the slowest, flows through a broad flat plain, may have oxbow lakes |
| Oxbow Lakes (def) | Crescentshaped lake formed when a river meander gets cut off from the main river due to build up of sediments |
| Base level (def) | Level of the body of water into which a stream flows |
| Why does a valley widen? | Water slows down closer to its base level, slope is not as great, sides weather faster than the stream bed |
| Temporary features of a river where stream erosion is greatest | Rapids & waterfalls |
| Delta (def) | Level, fan shaped deposit at the mouth of a river |
| Why do deltas form? | The water slowed down as it hit its base level |
| Levees (def) | Elevated ridges along the bank of a river formed from thick, coarse deposits left alongside a stream bank |
| % of Water on Earth that is Salt Water | 97% |
| Where most of the water on Earth is found | Oceans |
| Where most of the freshwater on Earth is found | Frozen in Glaciers & Icecaps |
| #1 Source of Useable Fresh Water | Groundwater |
| Hydrosphere (def) | The water of Earth's Surface |
| Water Cycle Synonym | Hydrologic Cycle |
| Water Cycle (def) | The movement of water from one part of the hydrosphere to another |
| Precipitation (def) | Any form of moisture falling from the sky |
| Condensation (def) | Process in which water going from the gas phase to the liquid |
| Precipitation Examples | Rain, Sleet, Snow, Hail, Freezing Rain |
| Evaporation (def) | Process in which liquid water changes to water vapor |
| Cause of Evaporation | Increase in Heat or Decrease in Pressure |
| Cause of Condensation | Decrease in Heat or Increase in Pressure |
| Evapotranspiration (def) | Process by which water is added to the atmosphere from bodies of water, land & plants |
| Runoff (def) | Water that flows over land because the soil storage is full & can not absorb anymore water |
| Porosity (def) | % of a material's volume that is pore space |
| Porous (def) | Having many holes |
| 2 Things Porosity depends on | Particle shape & Sorting of Sediments |
| Shape of particles which creates the most pore space | Spherical |
| Shape of particles which creates the least pore space | Flat |
| Example of particle with a spherical shape | Sand grains |
| Example of particles with a flat shape | Silts & Clays |
| Porosity of well sorted sediments | High Porosity |
| Porosity of poorly sorted sediments | Low Porosity |
| Two things that can decrease porosity | Natural cements & small sediments mixed with larger ones |
| Permeability (def) | The rate at which water & other liquids pass through pore space in rock |
| Effect on Permeability when grain size is increased | Permeability increases |
| Permeability of sand & gravel | High Permeability |
| Permeablilty of silts & clays | Low Permeability |
| Example of a rock that is porous but not permeable | Pumice |
| 2 Rocks that are only permeable when they contain cracks | Granite & Limestone |
| Water Table (def) | The surface of the zone of saturation |
| Zone of Saturation (def) | Part of the ground where all pore space is full of water |
| Zone of Aeration (def) | Area of the soil that still has empty pore space with air in it |
| 3 Parts of the Zone of Aeration | Capillary Fringe, Mid Section, Soil Water |
| Soil Water (def) | Thin film of capillary water that sticks to the topsoil |
| 6 Things that determine water depth | Amount of rainfall, season, slope of ground surface, thickness of soil, climate, time between rains |
| Name 4 things that are formed because the water table has reached the surface in a given area | Lake, River, Swamp, Hillside Spring |
| Ordinary Well (def) | Well dug into the ground until the water table is reached |
| Artesian Formation (def) | The arrangement of a permeable layer of rock sandwiched between two layers of impermeable rock |
| Aquifer (def) | Permeable layer of an artesian formation |
| Cap Rock (def) | Impermeable layer of an artesian formation |
| Rock that is usually the aquifer | Sandstone |
| Rock that is usually the cap rock | Shale |
| Most Famous artesian formation in the USA | Dakota Sandstone going from the Rocky Mts. to the Miss. River |
| Artesian Well (def) | Well drilled in rock, the water is under pressure & rises by itself |
| Artesian Spring Synonym | Fissure Spring |
| Artesian Spring (def) | Water that comes up through a crack in the cap rock; may form an oasis |
| Range of Groundwater temp | 5 degrees Celsius to 15 degrees Celsius |
| Permafrost (def) | Permanently frozen ground |
| How does temperature increase with depth? | An increase of 1 degree Celsius for every 40 meters of depth after the initial 20m |
| 3 Things that effect mineral content of water | Kind of rock the water passes through, Distance the water travels underground, Water temperature |
| (Warm or Cold) Temperature that dissolves rock the best | Warm |
| Hard Water (def) | Water that contains a lot of minerals that are dissolved in water as ions |
| Example of Minerals that may be dissolved in water | Calcium, Magnesium, Iron |
| Type of water that causes soap scum | Hard Water |
| Fresh water sources in order from hardest to softest | Artesian Formation, Groundwater, Rivers & Lakes, Rain |
| Mineral Spring (def) | A spring containing so much mineral matter that it can not be used for drinking or washing |
| Geyser (def) | Boiling hot springs that periodically erupt as gushers of hot water & steam |
| Fumarole (def) | Fissures in the ground from which steam & hot gases escape |
| Fissure (def) | Crack in rock or ground |
| Sinkhole (def) | Depression formed when part of a cave roof or surface of soil collapses |
| Caverns Synonym | Caves |
| Caverns (def) | Cracks or caves eaten in limestone by carbonic acid |
| Examples of Caverns | Luray Caverns in VA, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, Carlsbad Caverns in NM |
| Karst Topography (def) | Areas with underground drainage that may have caverns & sinkholes |
| Petrified Wood (def) | Formed when minerals in groundwater replace the cells in the wood |
| Geyserite (def) | White silica deposits around geysers |
| Travertine (def) | Calcite deposits around mineral springs |
| Example of a Geyser | Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming |
| Cause of periodic eruption of geysers | There are one or more constrictions in the tube the water rises through which interferes with the upward water flow causing the water to be under a great deal of pressure |
| Paint Pots Synonym | Mud volcanoes |
| Paint Pot (def) | Hot water that comes up through thick, sticky clays |
| Capillarity (def) | Capillarity is the ability of a soil to draw water upward into tiny spaces between soil grains; water moves upward against the force of gravity because of the attraction between water molecules & the surfaces of the soil particles. |
